Who said puzzles were harmless?
by Clumsy Owl
Summary: After the failure to save 22 people from a sudden death, Ichigo slips into a depression. When people need him again, he rises to the challenge, but is he really OK to take it on? The stress only climbs as Grimmjow enters, bringing with him a whole knew game. When placed between the proverbial rock and hard place, Ichigo feels himself crushed and defeated...Grimmichi


**Hello. I had this story running through my mind earlier, as I was taking an exam, and I thought it was worth a go. Again, I am not the best of authors (no, I am NOT fishing for compliments, thank you very much) so please bear with me. I will try to make this the best I can, so if you catch any mistakes, contradictions, grammatical errors, etc., PLEASE TELL ME! I will not be offended.**

**Warnings: angst is really all I got. later, there will be more, but not right now. This is just the prologue, after all.**

**Disclaimer: (sighs heavily) I am not the troll-god, commonly known as Tite Kubo, so I do not own Bleach. Only this story's plot line.**

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_For many, I know this has been yet another close call that has changed the course of our nation's history. May we all keep the lives of those unlucky enough to have died, and those of their families and loved ones, in our hearts as we recover from this most recent tragedy._

Ichigo reached over the side of his sofa to click the 'power' button on the remote, effectively silencing the news anchor. He sat alone in the darkness of his home for several moments, staring off into space and thinking of nothing. It wasn't until his neighbor's dog began its routine howl that his body began to head to his bedroom, where he hoped sleep would come to him, yet knew it would not.

To many, Ichigo would seem the typical bachelor. He lived in a small apartment, worked forty hours a week, had a small group of friends, and even ordered take-out most days of the week. But the 'many' never got the chance to see the real him. Ichigo could buy out the entire apartment building, and still have plenty of money to spend. He worked when he felt like it, which happened to be all the time. He had many friends, most just lived so far away they only communicated through email, text message, and the occasional phone call. And he could cook, quite well, if he didn't keep losing track of time. He considered himself a recluse, in that he didn't often leave his apartment on social calls, but he was more world-weary than most of the congressmen and lobbyists who walked the streets of the country's capital, despite the difference in age and political background.

The man now lay in bed, his mind reeling. It always happened like this. He would be next to comatose the entire day, living life through the motions whenever his prefered job no longer required his immediate assistance, then, just when he needed it to be quiet, his mind would spring to life. Scenes depicting an imagined version of the week's events came to him in rapid succession. The faces of the dead glared at him, demanding he tell them why he had not saved them, as well? The news anchor, too, her heavily powdered face a mask of disgust, reporting to the world how Ichigo had been the only one who could have helped, but had failed to do so in time to save the twenty-two victims who died in the attack.

No. Ichigo had done the best he could with what he had. He may have been able to save them all, if...only...no. They could not have known what to look for, and by the time Ichigo even knew about the issue, the clues were all but gone, destroyed by the innocent civilians who walked the streets to and from home. There were no "if only"s in this game. Only what happened and what will happen. That is what had once kept Ichigo sane, and what drew him to this line of work. But on nights like this, where the rain fell heavily, and another mission had just ended with the lives of twenty-two men and women, the man could not help but blame himself.

Ichigo threw a pillow over his face, as though trying to smother himself, and screamed.

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**So? Tell me what you think. I should have the next part up relatively soon...but then again...it is exam season...so if I do, that means I haven't been studying as much as I should. So for that sacrifice, I think you should leave a review, even if you hate this story already with a burning passion. It'll help me study if you leave a nice flame to read by.**


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